500 words a day on whatever I want

Philando Castile

Philando Castile (1983-2016), a Black American school cook, was shot dead during a Routine Traffic Stop by a police officer in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, a White suburb of St Paul. Castile had a gun, but it was not in his hand. His girlfriend, Diamond “Lavish” Reynolds, showed part of the stop live on Facebook.

This was at 9.00pm on July 6th 2016, less than 48 hours after Alton Sterling was killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The video starts after the four or five shots have been fired. Castile is covered in blood and seems to be passing out. Reynolds says, “Stay with me.” Pointing through the car window is a nervous police gun. Reynolds is trying to remain calm: her four-year-old daughter is in the back seat.

Police tell Reynolds to get out of the car and walk backwards with her hands up. One officer points a machine gun at her like she is a dangerous criminal. Another officer is holding her daughter. They tell her to get on her knees. They put on handcuffs. Her daughter is crying. Reynolds asks why she is being arrested. They say she is being “detained” while they sort things out. When the ambulance comes, she cries out to God.

Before the video, according to Reynolds, they were pulled over for a broken tail light that was not broken. A “Chinese” police officer tells them to put their hands in the air – and then asks Castile for his licence and registration. Then:

“As he’s reaching for his back pocket wallet, he lets the officer know: ‘Officer, I have a firearm on me.’ I begin to yell, ‘But he’s licensed to carry,’ After that, he [the officer] began to take off shots: ba ba ba ba. ‘Don’t move, don’t move!'”

The police will not say who did it. The case is being investigated by Minnesota state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), the same that found no wrong in the killing of Jamar Clark in November.

There have been protests both at Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street, where the shooting took place, and at the governor’s mansion in St Paul. The governor, Mark Dayton, came out of his mansion when Reynolds was there. He apologized to her and promised justice.

President Obama said all Americans “should be deeply troubled” by the Sterling and Castile shootings, that they are not Isolated Incidents but “symptomatic of the broader challenges within our criminal justice system.”

Hillary Clinton, who is running for president, tweeted:

“America woke up to yet another tragedy of a life cut down too soon. Black Lives Matter. #PhilandoCastile -H”

Donald Trump, also running for president, that loudmouth who wants to “Make America Great Again”, said – nothing.

A parent of one of the students at the school where Castile worked:

“My borderline autistic son hugged him every day. You guys. This was a GOOD MAN. This was a violent murder, an execution. A horrible, horrible act of racist violence. I am sick.”

– Abagond, 2016.

Update (July 8th, 16:22 GMT): The Sterling and Castile shootings led to protests across the country last night. The one in Dallas ended with 11 police officers getting shot. Five have died. Police say it was the work of snipers.

Castile’s killer has been named: Jeronimo Yanez, who has been with the force for four years. His name is Spanish and he does not look particularly “Chinese”, though the picture quality in this photo is not great:

Watching the YouTube of his life seeping out of him was horrible and the girlfriend’s hysteria was just horrendous and a small child was witnessing this. So even when you comply just as this young brother did you can still die. May his soul rest in peace. My heart is heavy.

@abagond
I’m not surprised. Escalating violence always seemed inevitable. It was only a matter of “when” in my mind. The justice system has no credibility as a system that serves all Americans and when that happens, some people will take matters into their own hands.

Criminal activity from police officers shouldn’t be a shocker to people anymore. Unfortunately, more and more cops are becoming active criminals.

Earlier today I was conversing via Google+ with a White commenter on the recent deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. But, as usual, the White commenter (who’s actually a well-known troll) threw the “White-on-Black” violent crime script at me like a baseball pitcher. No worries, I belted his crime script “out of the park.” I told him that the murders that are committed by Black men are mostly committed by marginalized street gang members named Pookie or Baby Ray-Ray. The murders that are committed by White men are mostly committed by White professionals and businessmen like Orville Fleming (California fire chief), Michael Slager (oath-taking police officer), David Viens (chef), Charles Merritt (business owner), Brian Karl Brimager (retired Marine), Timothy Loehmann (police officer), Raymonf Clark III (Yale laboratory technician), Bradley Stone (Marine), Brian Randone (fashion model), Johannes Mehserle (oath-taking police officer), Joshua Thomas Bohl (blue-collar worker), Daniel Pantaleo (oath-taking police officer), etc. There’s a huge difference. The White commenter mentioned DeMarquise Elkins (Black man). In 2013, 17-year-old Elkins was sentenced life in prison for fatally shooting a White baby in a stroller while trying to rob the child’s mother. I asked him if Elkins was a business professional or a young marginalized gang member? He didn’t reply. I also asked him is Elkins serving life in prison? Again, no reply. I mentioned Brian Karl Brimager (White man). In 2011, 36-year-old Brimager – a retired Camp Pendleon Marine – admitted to stabbing his girlfriend, dismembering her body and hiding a backpack with her body parts in a remote jungle in Panama. In February, Brimager pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Yvonne Baldelli. In May, Brimager was sentenced to 26 years in federal prison. Both Elkins and Brimager committed violent murders but one gets life in prison and other gets 26 years. Race plays a MAJOR in America.

I believe this is exactly what the establishment wants. A continual and widening against races as well as supposed authority that patrol the streets. Violence is not the answer but it is the reaction one gets when put in a corner.

I saw the video of the poor lady stuck in the car with Mr Castile as he died, with the police who murdered him still yelling at them. I also saw the video of Mr Sterling’s execution.

Much of the reaction to the cop deaths will no doubt be in line with what the shallow, idiot musician Joe Walsh has been vomiting on Twitter.

The deaths of black people will be ignored but the deaths amongst police will be seen as justification for more demonisation of an entire race.

I’m only surprised it took this long for (what seems likely to be) some kind of organised resistance to take action. I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t happen again. When the system doesn’t act to protect you then you have to protect yourselves.

That poor lady and kid in the car with Philando Castile… I can’t condemn a fight back.

Ask the liberals who will condemn it what alternative steps they are taking to address the situation.

Just heard they tired to pin the shooting on a black man whom was open carrying at the protest. His picture was put on CNN as a suspect. A person at the protest released cell phone video that showed the suspect on camera when the shooting began. Witnesses are saying the shots actually orginated from police vehicles as well and there were so many bullets flying they think it was multiple shooters.

I haven’t been able to find it yet. The media has switched to calling him Hispanic/Latino instead of Asian/Chinese, but I haven’t been able to find anything but speculation on his actual racial origin. If you have seen the photo, he’s definitely not a white Hispanic, although he could possibly be part white. He didn’t look obviously Pilipino or Guamanian to me, but I’ve been wrong before.

My heart goes out to the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Rest in peace brothers!

The shooting incident in Dallas is just a small sample of what will eventually take place. White people or this country as a whole should brace themselves because of what they’ve collectively done to Yah’s people over the past 500 years or so. There will be no escaping of judgment for them, … just watch.

Jeremiah 16:16 “Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.”

I haven’t been able to find it yet. The media has switched to calling him Hispanic/Latino instead of Asian/Chinese, but I haven’t been able to find anything but speculation on his actual racial origin. If you have seen the photo, he’s definitely not a white Hispanic, although he could possibly be part white. He didn’t look obviously Pilipino or Guamanian to me, but I’ve been wrong before.

Me neither.

The only reference I could find to suggest that he might be Asian was from the girlfriend who at one point said he was a “Chinese” cop, but that does not explain his Hispanic name and ambiguous racial look. Anyhow, since Abagond had labelled him as “Asian American”, I thought he must have access to information that is not easily found online. Otherwise, I think it might be best not to affix the racial label until we know more.

But the media also had problems affixing racial labels to gunmen like George Zimmerman and Elliot Rodger and police felons like Daniel Holtzclaw.

The msm can’t be trusted to tell the truth they bend and twist the narratives. And because it’s Black Lives Matter they are just going to conflate everything. And in regards to the tragedy in Dallas something is very fishy. Something they are hiding and trying to bid their time so they can concoct a lie. I hate all this conspiracy garbage.

I based “Asian American” on Reynolds’s description of him being “Chinese”. But since his name is Spanish and since he does not look clearly “Chinese” in the picture I could be pretty sure was him, I took out “Asian American” from the post, but I left in her description since it is clearly marked as an eyewitness account.

Update: The Sterling and Castile shootings led to protests across the country last night. The one in Dallas ended with 11 police officers getting shot. Five have died. Police say it was the work of snipers.

Castile’s killer has been named: Jeronimo Yanez, who has been with the force for four years. His name is Spanish and he does not look particularly “Chinese”, though the picture quality in this photo is not great:

I assumed Abagond wrote “Asian American” because at that time that is how the press was describing him, and to the best of my knowledge, the press was basing that solely on Diamond Reynolds’ description. It’s understandable that she would not necessarily be able to accurately identify his race, especially under the extremely traumatic circumstances. But the press shouldn’t have run with it as fact until independently confirmed.

As you and I both know, his Spanish name doesn’t preclude his being of Asian or part-Asian descent, but it does make it unlikely.

What happened was blow back. But don’t expect that fact to be apart of mainstream reporting.

“But this phenomenon is by no means restricted to international affairs. It can characterize civil unrest as well. Again, what we saw yesterday in Dallas was, if not something even more diabolical, blowback.”

“The American people feel under siege. Different populations feel besieged by different forces. Black Americans especially have suffered decades of persecution by the American “justice” system: police brutality and harassment, mass incarceration, being nickel-and-dimed by tickets and fines, etc. And especially since the summer of 2014, they have been seeing a litany of viral photos and videos of black Americans having been gunned down, throttled, and broken by the police.”

“This violence too is driven by collectivism. Law enforcement officers are granted an exceptional status in society: a special dispensation to mete out violence with impunity. This caste privilege has instilled deep tribalism in many police officers, which is amplified by training and police union propaganda. Cops are trained to be obsessed with “officer safety” and to effectively treat those outside the “blue tribe” (whom they ostensibly “protect and serve”) as an enemy population: as if every American they detain is a potential quick-draw gunman ready to shoot them down in a millisecond. This paranoia, combined with the impunity of the badge, is what makes an encounter with the police so potentially lethal: especially for black civilians.”

“Take the collectivism of “blue” tribalism explained above and add, for some individuals, the collectivism of racial terror (irrational, hateful prejudice that every black male is a potential super-predator), and you begin to understand the epidemic of police violence against American blacks.”

I love, love, love your responses to the White commenter who tried to tie you up with the Black on Black crime (or the Black on White crime) scripts that Black folk often encounter on comment sections, forums or social media.

I’m not surprised that all you heard back from him or her was “no reply”.

White on White crime results in 26 years in prison. Black on White crime results in life in prison or death. Blue (police) on Black crime results in a two week (or longer) paid vacation, no prison time and in some cases, a huge payday.

There are non-violent alternatives. Every “fightback” need not be done with fists, knives or guns to be effective. Considering the rising levels of panic that the Palestinian BDS movement is inspiring in certain circles, it seems that economic non-participation and institutional divestment are potent weapons against people who value money over human life.https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/pro-israel-groups-vow-eliminate-bds

I saw this on your website’s About page and completely agree with your ideas that:

“… revolutionary approaches are futile unless preparatory groundwork has been done to educate people… it is necessary to have working social structures and logistical processes in place to act as examples. Change must be evolutionary as much as revolutionary.”

I think a combination of “fightback” tactics are most effective. They must be held together with an overarching vision of where people want to be instead of what they think is possible now.

“…in regards to the tragedy in Dallas something is very fishy. Something they are hiding and trying to bid their time so they can concoct a lie.”

I thought about that last night when I heard about the police being shot. I wondered who would have the most to gain if police were shot and killed. BLM protesters didn’t even make the top one million list as suspects on that type of operation.

White Supremacists groups, however, made the top three list. They have been plotting massive violence for a long time. What better spark than killing cops and having the media blame non-violent BLM protestors?

Whenever individuals, groups ect attack State agents it’s the State that benifits through gaining more power over people and more laws are passed restricting the civil liberties of all American citizens.

Last night set the precedent that a government “robot” was used to blow up the shooter. I belive that this is the first time a drone has been used to kill an American citizen on U.S. soil.

In the view of the State what happened last night was an insurrection.

We are all hating, going against one another, killing one another. It’s a total collapse of each other. Freedom, justice, love, respect, compaison, is going away. Hate is rampant all over America. It seems as lately that every person in America. Be it, Suburban, Rural , Urban etc areas are tearing each other up. Don’t you’s get it? If we continue this we are making is easier for militant Jihadists to finish us and then who are you going to hate distrust and tear to shreds? NOTHING……
Nothing will be left. We will all have invited them into our house to do with us as they see fit. Smarten Up………

The animal (Jeronimo Yanez) deserves the electric chair. He’s on paid leave. So the system is already protecting him.

His girlfriend is truly amazing in the way she kept her calm. They would’ve happily killed her and maybe spared the young child. They would’ve covered it up.

She stayed calm to tell the story and to stay alive at least for her daughter. Without her recording we would never have seen this.

Meanwhile you had a cop screaming like fucking a banshee about why he shot Phil AND STILL HOLDING THE GUN ON PHIL, STILL ?

Nobody calling for help for him, his girlfriend can’t move or she’ll be dead.
Why do they even become police officers if they are too emotionally fragile to handle what the job entails?

But as usual they spaz out and start shooting people all because someone is black and they twitched

This is the fuckery that we, as melanated people have to deal with on a visceral level. Trauma is imbedded in our DNA.

But back to that sister. Man. As I’ve said she and her little girl would have been dead dead dead if she wasn’t in full survival mode. I commend her bravery. I hope her little girl doesn’t develop PTSD.

That’s a very impressionable age to experience this type of trauma.

If you ain’t ready, you better get ready! Cause the revolution is HERE!

Just read somewhere that they claim they pulled him over because he fit the description of a man who robbed the store 4 days prior. Theven man in the store video had a goatee and castile had a goatee sideburn connect type cut.

Apparently he was stopped over 50 times in the last few years. A large proportion of those stops were likely for BS too since many of his violations were dismissed. This is basically stalking then killing by a predatory system.

@Origin
That’s incredible! ” $6,588 in fines and fees, although more than half of the total 86 violations were dismissed”
That’s incredible. I’ve been stopped several times for driving while black. But 52!!! I remember going to court and seeing hundreds of people lined up. 90 % of them black in a city that’s 50 % black. And then got a bullsh-t ticket on the same day that I had just been to traffic court! And I thought that was bad. But 52!!! That’s incredible!

@Origin: I read something about “wide set nose” in regards to Philando Castille and I just had to shut down my iPad I couldn’t read anymore that is the most disgusting and racist garbage, it’s beyond pathetic.

‘You fit the description’ is a stock and trade excuse. You must haave probable and reasonable cause to stop someone here(Toronto). Hence, you fit a suspects description. So what if you are 5’8, to the supects 6’5, or have a bald ead instead of a head full of hair?

“State investigators named Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser as the officers involved. Both had been with the St. Anthony Police Department for four years and were put on administrative leave, as is standard.

Yanez approached Castile’s car from the driver’s side, and Kauser from the passenger side, according to a statement from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. It said Yanez opened fire, striking Castile multiple times. No one else was injured.”

Something I don’t understand. Is the video of the killing reversed? Why is Castile and the steering wheel on the right side of the car? What’s going on here?

Haven’t commented on a post for many, many, months but feel compelled with this one. Watching the live feed on FB of this literally broke me. I was actually moved to send a message of love to Lavish Reynolds which is something I have never done before and probably never will again. Here in the UK we are all shocked to the core and heart broken for Mr Castile’s family. We all know this is not anything new or surprising but the world has witnessed it. That officer killed a man in front of his child! As a mother it makes me cry.

My Boyfriend’s sister is planning to move to the states with her husband an 4 children at the end of the year and he is begging her not to go. They are a hard working and relatively wealthy family. Over there they will be considered quite middle class and of course British but what does it matter? They are black. We do not believe they will be safe.

My heart bleeds for all the lives taken and all the families who have lost loved ones by a xenophobic police force simply because they are the ‘wrong’ colour.

@ Herneith. Not really. You have many black people in influential positions in the U.S. not least of all your very own president. I know Obama went to Dallas straight after the shootings there (as he should) but how many of the recently murdered black peoples families has he visited?

I stand by what I wrote. Sure there are shuck and jive artists in the States, Judas goats. I stand with my fellow Blacks! Except the kerchief heads. I don’t have any ‘leaders’ regardless of their political stripes, they are not ‘mine’.

then black Americans won’t be confused when they actually see a Mexican with Native American ancestry and won’t accidentally call them “Asian” (because as we know, Native Americans don’t look like any ethnic group from Asia at all)

hopefully, the next witness to a police shooting gets the Ethnicity or Nationality of the cop right…if not for society, then just for you, Kiwi 🙂

can’t keep falsely identifying people — that just leads to stereotypes

kind of like how officer Yanez thought Philando looked like the other black guy who robbed the store because of his wide nose – but we can rest in peace, Philando got shot for the other black man’s crimes — justice was served, right Kiwi

I like how you are sticking to the topic here… good Job!

(and by the way, in all seriousness Kiwi – I’m not mad at you – but even you know you are dead wrong for keeping up this BS)

Yup. Latinos can belong to any of Americas other racial classifications in addition to being Hispanophone. Mexicans are more likely to look European or Native while Caribbean Latinos like Cubans, Dominicans or Puerto Ricans tend to occupy the African/European continuum.

(Now that Cuba is open Americans are probably going to be very surprised how “black” it is!).

Castile’s girlfriend couldn’t divine Yanez’ ancestral homeland. She was just trying to get across what he looked liked after having watched her boyfriend’s murder.

I had been listening all the comments on the Alton Sterling thread, too.

I am very sorry for Alton Sterling and his family and community.

I am also very sorry that Philando Castile had lost his life in front of his little girl. And his girlfriend, for having the presence of mind under such harrowing circumstances.The post –traumatic stress disorder and complex traumatic stress disorder this child would inevitably suffer from….

I had been hesitant in commenting on the modern day lynching of the Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. At this moment, I would like to express my solidarity and thoughts, esp. to Mary Burrell. Also, to all commenters and readers who were affected by this terrible tragedy.

Sadly, and very predictably their deaths will not be the last of the police murders.

There was a very visceral feeling of sadness and controlled anger all the weekend reading Abagond’s Blog.

Why should I, across the Atlantic ocean, far away, feel so affected by it? After all, am I not desensitized to violence as many South Africans are? I have witnessed and had violent crime committed against me by the state and by white and Black people.

Alton Sterling’s and Philandro Castile’s deaths had started important conversations in South Africa. There were demonstrations outside the USA embassy in support of Black Lives Matter. Over the last few decades, the cultural export of negative images of Black Americans have become mainstream overseas in the same way negative images of Africa has been implanted in the American mind.

I have been more informed by Abagond and the many insightful comments than by the mainstream press, which one just has to turn off. It was distressing to see the reaches of propaganda even on Al-Jazeera. Watching Barack Obama smiling with the ‘men In blue” just left me cold.

Re: Barack Obama- what can one expect from a man who drones Pakistani children? Do you know they are called ‘bugsplat’? The one consolation is that a coward dies a thousand deaths.

From the slave patrols to lynchings to Jim Crow to Alsatians and water hoses on protesters in Birmingham to COINTELPRO to mass incarceration of young African American men combined with modern lynchings and all other manner of Civil Rights undermining, white supremacy in the USA has been transmuted from one beast into another. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Didn’t know about this one either. Guess it’s only the ones caught on camera that catches our attention. No pix? Didn’t happen.
“The Revolutionary Black Panther Party will hold an armed march against genocide in St. Louis, Missouri, an open-carry weapons state, on August 5, to honor Angelo Brown, also known as General Houdari Juelani, the local party leader who was shot dead by police in nearby Belleville, Illinois, last month. The party also plans “to file human rights violations with the International Criminal Court and the World Court,” according to Chief General in Charge Dr. Ali Muhammad. Juelani died from a single bullet to the temple, but his face showed signs that he had been beaten before death. “Every time he was out he was harassed” by the cops, said Dr. Muhammad, a neurologist. “They assassinated him.””

Guess that’s why Miriam Carey, shot in essentially the same way as Walter Scott, fleeing and at that point no threat to no one. On the Washington mall no less. Yet her case did not stir the same kind of outrage. No pix? Didn’t happen.

“Over the last few decades, the cultural export of negative images of Black Americans [to African minds] have become mainstream overseas in the same way negative images of Africa has been implanted in the American mind. ”

.

I wasn’t fully aware of the size of the African to African American disconnect until recently. It was something I read, or heard, from another Black man, Dr Sebi, a nutritionist and herbal doctor .

I can’t begin to express the anger and sadness over the WEDGE we’ve permitted the enemy to use to continue to divide and separate us from each other.

“This case only proves to me that Chinese are in fact being scapegoated for police brutality, as I’ve been saying all along.”
You know Kiwi, I agree with you. If that bastard, Peter Liang hadn’t gunned down Akai Gurley for no reason, Reynolds wouldn’t have made the mistake of ethnic attribution she did.

So the murdering cop was acquitted black lives will never matter. Black people are not considered human. I am not surprised at the outcome it’s always the same murdering thugs with badges kill with impunity. I am sick to my stomach right now. Rest In Peace Brother Castille.

What can one say really? We’d all have been very surprised by a guilty verdict. Our perceptions and understandings are validated over and over again. Black lives do not matter to others and we should accept this. Acceptance that is, cognizance as prerequisite to responding appropriately, not defeatism.

Instead of being infected by that atmosphere and viewing each other with contempt our reaction should be one of rebellion against it. That is, we must matter to each other as we all face the viciousness of racism whether overt or covert. That is the only equation we have to solve as only our own arms will save us.

Some pray to Jesus but even he says “The Kingdom of God is within YOU” [Luke 17:21]. Even in the old testament there are curious verses like Psalms 82:7: “You are gods and all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless you will die like men and fall like one of the princes”.

The human, as the most complete material manifestation of the divine forces, is something accepted as a given by many ancestral cultures. [It seems likely that this would be adopted, and likely warped in meaning, by younger people] He/she is seen as the means by which the divine involutes into its own creation much as you do when you involve yourself in your own dream by creating an avatar to experience it.

That one is both you and not you. Just as Jesus is both the father and not. In that view he is a model, a picture, of you. His very name means “Jah is salvation” while Jah is the “I am”, the spiritual force of existence and consciousness. The one thing you are absolutely sure of is that you exist. You are your savior.

While historically, the orthodoxy has fought against “heretical” esoteric interpretations of Jesus’ words I suggest that such an empowering view is the only one valuable to Christianized Africans facing the trials of the present season. That way we won’t sit around waiting for salvation to appear in the shape of a blond-haired, blue-eyed white man but will act to realize a victorious vision confident that once the spirit has been aroused with the will we’ll see success. That’s my personal approach to going after what I want in life anyway, even in the face of obstacles.

Mourn at the injustice but don’t let your spirits be broken.
Take care of yourselves everyone.

…our reaction should be one of rebellion against it. That is, we must matter to each other as we all face the viciousness of racism whether overt or covert. That is the only equation we have to solve as only our own arms will save us.[…]

…Mourn at the injustice but don’t let your spirits be broken.”

Well said.

Sometimes Black people forget that when they are (mostly*) united, focused and willing to persevere, White people and their allies are forced to make transformational changes. They will play mind games on an industrial scale to keep Black people from acting. They will brandish fearsome weaponry to keep Black people from acting. They will stuff Black people into cages (mass imprisonment) and shatter our families (foster care system) to keep Black people from acting.

Yet, only when Black people are finally ready to create and act on that “victorious vision” will the path to through the artificial obstacles of anti-Black racism become clear. I agree that the first step is acceptance of the fact that Black people’s lives do not matter to anyone but themselves.

The second step is the realization that the White Power Structure (WPS) and its allied forces are not invulnerable. There are several points of weakness where Black people can exert enough pressure to not only stop current actions against them, but to make long lasting changes.

The response will be an increase in formal and informal violence against Black people because that is the primary tool of the WPS (and to paraphrase Maslow, “when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”) Yet, Black people already live in an era of ever increasing violence against our community members. There is already a chorus of White and allied voices telling Black people that non-violent resistance against WPS violence is violence(is that Orwellian or what?). According to those voices, Black people should just accept the murder of our people with passivity and silence. To do otherwise, would lead Black people to upsetting the carefully stacked racial hierarchy that benefits White people and their non-Black allies.

I think Black folk should move forward with a Sankofa awareness that anything they do will not only be fiercely fought in the present moment but the WPS will seek to undermine any concessions to Black people in the future. Black people must also accept that the struggle will be multi-generational and that the forces arrayed against Black people will continue their depredations well into the future.

“The state of Minnesota killed my son” Mr. Castile’ is correct the state of Minnesota allowed a murderer to go free. This murdering animal killed a man who obeyed his commands and Mr. Castile told him he had a gun. Yet this cowardly piece of human feces fired his weapon into their car with an unarmed woman and a young child in the back seat. Jeronamo Yanez is a monster. Even though he was fired that will not placate the people and family of Mr. Castile. I guess the family of Mr. Castile will sue the police department or the city and they will get some type of financial restitution, but no amount of money will bring Mr. Castile back. I was on a couple of mainstream media sites and in the comments the hateful and vitriol was outrageous. It’s true that black Americans need to accept our lives mean nothing and we are not even considered human.

…What’s even more compelling is that Officer Yanez appeared unhinged in the viral Facebook Live video. Even after firing the barrage of fatal shots, Yanez stands outside the car, with his gun still trained on a bleeding and dying Castile while yelling hysterically: “I told him not to reach for it. I told him to get his hands open.” Contrast this with Reynolds’ calm and composed demeanor, while she addresses Yanez as “sir,” and reminds him that what he asked Castile to do was produce his driver’s license….

Yanez is the only one who appears to be hyper and out of control. Reynolds is respectful and polite — despite witnessing her boyfriend dying before her. Even her 4-year-old daughter is more composed than Yanez, as she reassures her mom by saying “it’s okay, I’m right here with you.”

Isn’t it the officer who is supposed to be trained and experienced in these encounters? Isn’t it the officer who takes the oath to protect and serve? Isn’t it the officer who must adhere to that oath by exercising good judgment and self-control? Isn’t it the officer who should be calm, steady, even tempered, composed and courteous?

What does it say when a civilian is more level-headed and restrained than law enforcement? Worse, what does it say when a 4-year-old has to calmly sooth and reassure her mom after witnessing an officer lose his composure. Should we expect children to be more reasonable than a man with a badge and gun?

Thanks for that Afrofem. On another note, youtube comments on videos related to this might induce all manner of severe diseases. You have people still trying to justify Catille’s murder just because he was black. I appreciated Valerie Castille’s honesty though.

Philando Castile’s family and friends set up a fund to help the children Castile cared for everyday in his job as a nutrition services supervisor. The fund continues his work of helping all children to have access to lunch everyday.

According to Think Progress, the fund started with a goal of $5000.00 and ended up raising more than $72,000.00. The article states:

“Pamela Fergus, a psychology professor at a community college in Minnesota launched a fundraiser called “Philando Feeds the Children”, which was created to honor Castile’s memory. The funds are being used to pay off several thousands of dollars worth of school lunch debt accrued by students at J.J. Hill.

“[Castile] supervised their food program and interacted with the kids every day. He knew their names and their diets. He LOVED his job!” Ferguson wrote on the fundraiser’s YouCaring site. “Philando’s death affected every one of those kids. This fund hopes to provide the kids with a lasting connection to Mr. Phil.”

The fund also seeks to stop the practice of “lunch shaming” where children whose lunch accounts are past due are singled out for humiliation by cafeteria staff. The article describes lunch-shaming:

In one particularly eregerious instance of lunch-shaming, a Santa Fe woman working the cash register at a local school’s cafeteria told a 4-year-old girl whose parents had missed her lunch payments that she had no money and threw the girl’s lunch in the trash.

Some states have taken preventative measures to halt lunch-shaming practices. California and Texas have both passed legislation that bans schools from shaming children — either by tossing their meals in the trash, making them wear identifying labels noting their debt, making them do extra chores, or giving them alternative meals — who don’t have the ability to pay for food.

The US is an extremely wealthy nation where the children of working people are humiliated in lunch rooms and forced to rack up debt while money is wasted on weapons systems that don’t, can’t and will never work.

@Afrofem: That’s so horrible that a young child if they are poor and their parents can’t afford to pay for their lunch get shamed. I feel this system that oppresses the poor and disenfranchised is deliberate. How are young children supposed to perform efficiently in school? So the babies are hungry and they can’t learn because they are hungry. This is so shameful and heartbreaking.

Many of the children whose parents fall behind in payments are either just above the income threshold for reduced lunches, don’t know they qualify or find the paperwork overwhelming.

Philando Castile was beloved by the children and staff because he cared about the children. He knew their names and diets. He was also known for paying for children’s lunches out of his own pocket, when the need arose.

“Many of the children whose parents fall behind in payments are either just above the income threshold for reduced lunches, don’t know they qualify or find the paperwork overwhelming.”

Right, I see what you’re saying. If a child was already getting lunches entirely free, presumably their account would not come up showing any payment due. And in addition to the points you made above about reduced lunches, some families who qualify may still struggle to pay that reduced amount every week or may have times when unexpected expenses like car repairs squeeze their finances too tight.

I guess the point I was trying to make is the principle ought to remain the same. A hungry child isn’t prepared to learn. And a child who has been publicly shamed on top of that is going to be very upset, which makes it even more likely they won’t be able to concentrate.

I cannot imagine doing such a thing to a four-year-old. That’s a baby! They aren’t going to understand!

And to throw away the food sends such a mixed message about the value of it, like the money is somehow more precious!!

I’m sorry, this is the first I’d heard of lunch-shaming, and I’m outraged almost to the point of incoherency.

“Philando Castile was beloved by the children and staff because he cared about the children. He knew their names and diets. He was also known for paying for children’s lunches out of his own pocket, when the need arose.

“He was a true asset to society.”

Yes, he was. His death was a great loss to society. People like him make such a huge impact on the lives of children. Jobs like his don’t get much respect in society, but the truth is that someone with a caring heart like his does more good in one day in a school cafeteria than most of the rich fat cats do in their entire lives.

“I guess the point I was trying to make is the principle ought to remain the same. A hungry child isn’t prepared to learn.”

Totally agree.

My mom was a teacher and always kept snacks in the classroom for her students. This was before free and reduced price lunch programs.

During the holidays, she would also cook a full meal for her students, haul it to the classroom and send them home with leftovers.

In the current climate of fear, disrespect (for teachers and students) and frivolous litigation, she would be prohibited from that level of caring for her students. I feel fortunate to have seen that level of devotion on the part of a teacher. I still remember how her former students would thank her years later when they met her in public places, for believing in them and showing how much she cared about them.

I don’t remember any teachers feeding students, but I do remember them discreetly collecting hand-me-downs and buying underclothes for very needy families. A lot of us wore hand-me-downs so that wasn’t a big deal, but those exchanges usually took place within family or neighbor networks. There were a few families who didn’t have those networks and/or whose need for clothing went beyond those resources, so the teachers stepped in. And it was done discreetly; I only knew about it because my family was one of those the teachers typically asked, and I remember as a kid being admonished to keep it a secret and not shame the children of the recipient families.

I could go on and on about teachers. So many of them spend their own money one way or the other on their students, and they don’t get paid enough to begin with.